


all gossip of the marigold

by siojo



Series: Werewolf Au [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M, Nymphs & Dryads, Pre-Slash, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 05:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20773127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: There's always something new and unusual cropping up in town, Marco's been sent to investigate all of them, since Shanks keeps giving the cases to him. Which is why, when he's woken up four hours early the day of the full moon, Marco knows that it's going to be a long day.





	all gossip of the marigold

"You know, my shift doesn't start for four more hours," Marco mutters, catching sight of the name on his screen before answering. "And you promised that you would stop calling me in early when Benn went out of town." 

"I don't remember promising something like that," Shanks says brightly, his voice grating and loud this early in the morning. "But we've got something new and exciting happening in town! So get up and get to the station."

"I'm going to tell Benn that you haven't taken a day off since he was forced to go to England three weeks ago for work."

"I'm sure you will. Now get to work and ask Thatch about the flowers!"

Marco stares at his phone for a long moment before sighing, dropping his head down onto his pillow and trying to decide if he can afford closing his eyes and waiting for his alarm to wake him up in three hours or if Shanks would finally go through with firing him for insubordination. It takes him longer than he would like to push himself up to get ready, ignoring the sounds of his neighbors shouting at each other over something.

They were always shouting and Marco's hearing was always most sensitive the day of the full moon. More like a wolf's than a human's, the same with the rest of his senses. Which is why he was already following the scent of coffee out of his house and down the road before he had tied his shoes.

"You look tired, Officer Newgate," Nami states, already scribbling his name onto their largest cup. "The usual?"

"Three of them," Marco yawns, feeling teeth that weren't truly there ache.

"That sounds like too much caffeine for a canine." Nami grins, filling the bottom of all three cups with something purple and glittering that smells like magic. "A shot of wake up in each, just for you."

"Thank you, I need it to make it through the morning."

Nami laughs, twisting all three cups into the air to Usopp, who muttered darkly as they circled him like tiny plastic moons, waiting for him to fill them impatiently, "I'm sure."

Marco moves the side when the door opens, the bell clanging as someone else hurries in and takes Nami's attention. The shop is still barren, most of the people in town hurrying off to bed or not quite ready to wake up, the few quiet hours of the morning that they have in a town where some residents never sleep.

"Here you go," Usopp states, banishing the cups to the counter by Marco. "Sorry it took so long!"

"Thank you," Marco mutters, downing the first cup before he even stepped back, tossing it into the garbage as he headed out the door, balancing the other two carefully. "I know you're there."

"But you're not clocked in yet," Shanks states, grinning down from the roof, sitting closer than any human could to the edge. "And you know the rules, I'm not allowed to update you on cases off the clock."

Marco hums, sipping his second cup slower, "Want me to clock in through the app?"

"You could," Shanks agrees, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "It wouldn't save you a walk to the station, however Thatch has collected most of the reports and you'll have to meet up with him."

"I might as well get paid for walking into work," Marco mutters, biting down on the rim of the cup and fishing his phone out of his pocket. It's a matter of seconds and his finger print to log in and clock in for work. "Alright, what is so important that you called me into work almost four hours early and the day before my vacation."

"You call it a vacation, but you're going to spend all of tonight running through your backyard hunting bunny rabbits."

"I can clock out and start my vacation early."

Shanks sighs, "Fine, fine. Smoker never listens when I call him early unless it's really an emergency and you know he can tell the difference."

"That's what you get for hiring him," Marco mutters, yawning. "Answers, please."

"We've been getting reports in all morning of flowers that have grown suddenly in places that they have never been seen before," Shanks pauses when Marco growls. "You haven't let me finish, down boy. They're not a species native to the area and if you pay attention, they almost form a path."

"A path?"

"Leading through town. I've taken a look at some myself. They crumble when you touch them, no matter how delicate you are. Even a claw would take them out."

Marco hums, dumping his second cup into the nearest trashcan, "Sounds strange. But overtime?"

"You'll see when you meet up with Thatch. I'm going to do another patrol and see if I can figure out how I missed someone coming into town to do this."

"Got distracted with Skyping Benn?"

"At least I didn't howl at the moon!"

"That was one time!" Marco shouts after him, snorting when Shanks ignores him and vanishes onto the rooftops again, almost silent. "One day, I'm going to bite him and laugh at his pain."

Thatch is already at his desk by the time Marco reaches the station ten minutes later, his computer humming as he fields emails and marks something on the piece of paper spread out in front of him.

"You're early. Shanks?"

"He wants me to work on the flowers."

Thatch raises an eyebrow, setting his pen down, "Shanks wants you to find the source of the flowers? In a serious type of way? Because the last time Shanks called you in early like this it was to make you track down a stray dog that turned out to be you the night before and laughed himself sick."

"Yes," Marco agrees, gritting his teeth as he tries not to crush his last cup of coffee. "He said you had reports for me."

"These are what we know," Thatch snorts, hiccuping as he throws the map up into the air, the soft pink markers highlighting the locations reported. "Since we don't have an order of appearance, there's no way to know what came first."

"Unless I catch something in the scent."

"I mean, we've got in a report from Kingdew, he says the only thing that he can smell is the flowers. Namur came up for a walk around after Kingdew sent him a text about it and can't detect anything."

"That doesn't mean that I shouldn't try. Who reported the flowers first," Marco asks, opening the app that Thatch's spells normally interfaced with to snap a picture of the map, letting it place the markers onto the GPS for him.

Thatch grumbles, flicking his fingers at the stack of reports and smirking when they spun around him, taking his time to skim each before reaching for one of the ones behind him, "First report came from Tsuru, she called early this morning and Shanks took the initial report. The flowers were spread along the edge of her yard closest to the sidewalk. She says that at one point, there are more flowers than at any other location along her yard."

"Tsuru lives close to the edge of town, doesn't she?"

"Two blocks from. But we also have a report from Nico Robin and her library is on the border."

"More flowers?"

"Flowers and one of her bookshelves has become a tree," Thatch answers slowly. "As in, it's still a bookshelf, but now it's got roots."

"I see."

"If you do, can you tell me what you're seeing because I can't see shit."

Marco hums, slow and thoughtful, "Are there other reports of wood or plant based products turning into their original forms?"

"Nope, just Robin's bookshelf. Could be more, but we won't know until people start to wake up. The town might have a thriving day and night life, but I don't remember the last time they were up this early."

"I don't remember the last time that I saw most of the town up before nine," Marco mutters tiredly.

He doesn't need to say that it's worse in the days before and after the full moon. The rush of last minute prep for parties and runs and coven meetings that will take the entire night of the full moon and then the days of sleeping off the rush of energy and magic. It's always Marco's job to go through the town after the full moon and deal the aftermath, since Shanks is too lenient, he's more than happy to leave it to Smoker this month.

"I'll start at Robin's place and work my way into town to see what happens. Can you keep me updated?"

"Sure, it's not like I have a lot going on here."

Marco rolls his eyes, dropping his final cup into the trash and checking his pockets before grabbing his jacket and heading out. It wasn't quite spring yet, the snow melted and the weather no longer dropping below freezing in the night, but there was still a chill to the day that lingered even after the sun reached it's zenith.

Robin is waiting for him, smiling the same way that she always has in the years that he's known her, easy and bland with something lurking below the surface. Something that has to do her past, well before Marco was born.

"Deputy Newgate."

"Mrs. Robin."

"Just Robin, please."

"Robin. Can you tell me what you know?"

Robin nods, turning to lead the way inside, "I left the library unlocked last night, since Franky said that he would be home late, but had left his keys upstairs. He doesn't know if the bookshelf was normal when he arrived home or not, he does remember that he didn't lock the door, but the security system suffered a burst of interference about three hours after he returned."

"Would you be willing to let me have a copy of the feed along with the five minutes before and after the incident?" Marco pauses, catching sight of her reflection in the window they had passed, "Please?"

Robin smiles wider, "Of course, Deputy Newgate. This is the shelf."

The roots of the bookshelf are digging into the wooden floor, sinking through but not destroying it as Marco had thought when he had been told about it. It's as if the floor has integrated into the bookshelf's new root system.

"Has anything similar to this ever occured here?" Marco asks, jotting down notes onto his notepad, after taking a series of photographs.

"I have heard of something similar, but I don't remember it well, since I was just a little girl myself," Robin answers, clasping her hands behind her back. "But I think the situation was different then."

"Different?" Marco prompts.

"I believe the incident was prompted by the dryad that we had at the time. You would have to ask someone older than I to get more information, unfortunately."

"I see."

Marco has heard a number of stories about the dryad that had lived in the forest long before he was born. She had been one of the founders of their little town, but something had happened, not that anyone had ever said what, and she had died. From what little Marco had been able to find out, she should have been succeeded by someone, but no one had ever appeared.

"I'll have the footage sent to your office, Deputy Newgate!"

"You can call me by name," Marco says, kneeling down to brush a handful of dull pink petal from the bottom shelf and into an evidence bag, sighing when they crumble into dust. "Why couldn't it have been something simple?"

He puts the bag, with the thin layer of dust, into his jacket pocket, before checking the next reported incident on his phone. It doesn't take more than a few steps to realize that the medians have patches of sweet smelling flowers similar to ones he had spotted on his way to Robin's, these ones bright pink.

"See what I mean?" Shanks asks suddenly from behind him, smirking when Marco growls, low and dangerous. "Aw, don't be like that puppy, it's just me! Thatch told me that you had already left before I got these new report," he pauses, kneeling down to brush a finger over a flower, sighing when it crumbles. "They're all the same from what I've seen."

"You don't seem worried, sheriff."

Shanks shrugs, loose and uncaring, "Should I worry? Anyone who makes it to this town has to pass an army before they can touch someone."

"An army? When did an army-," Marco cuts himself off when he catches sight of the look on Shanks' face. It's one that he's learned means nothing but trouble for him. "Do you know something about this?"

"I know something," Shanks admits after a long, infuriating, moment. "But I don't know if I'm right, which means that I'm compromised. I can tell you that the flowers go through town and there's no clear path to them."

"Which means that I'm going to be asking everyone for any recordings or security footage that they might have. The flowers led from the woods to Robin's place, have you checked outside town?"

"Nope, I've been too busy trying to calm down a few of the newer residents," Shanks sighs, looking tired. "The fairy couple that moved into the brownstone? They thought it was a declaration of war."

Marco pinches the bridge of his nose and rolls his shoulders, trying to ignore the way his skin feels too small, "I'll trace the path through town and pick up what I can before following the path from Robin's place to the woods. Do the flowers seem to go anywhere else, sir?"

"They cut through Luffy's backyard. He says that he didn't see anything."

"Do you believe him?"

"Not at all, he's never had the best poker face," Shanks laughs. "But I'll leave you to it. Call me if you need me, I'm going to stay on shift for a little while longer."

"You know, just because you don't have to sleep doesn't mean that you shouldn't," Marco shouts after him. "Benn won't be pleased with you when he comes home!"

Shanks' laughter echoes from everywhere at once, soft and lingering before vanishing just as fast. A projection of his voice instead of him lurking close by, Marco decides, teeth on edge as he heads into town.

There's only twelve hours until moon rise and Marco wants to have hunted down every lead possible before that. Leaving a hunt unfinished before the transformation was never the best idea. Shanks hated trying to process evidence covered in saliva.

* * *

"You're headed into the woods this late in the afternoon?" Thatch asks, raising an eyebrow. "You don't have much time left until moon rise, if you go too deep-" 

"I'm not an idiot, Thatch. But if I don't go now, I'll be going later. I'm not dangerous in my other form, but I also don't remember to stay inside the barrier for safety reasons. If I get answers now, I'll trot home to the steak I have waiting and my bed," Marco answers, his stomach growling. 

"You could just have Pops lock you in for the night."

"And break down the door again? He still hasn't forgiven me for the last one. Keeps claiming it was supposed to be indestructible."

Thatch snorts, "I remember that. He was so sad that he made you buy him a new one."

"I bought three new ones, because I know how quickly he goes through doors, even though most of us have moved out," Marco pauses, looking at the nearest patch of flowers curiously.

Each patch of flowers had been brittle, the petals long dead even if they retained their shape, but these looked healthier. Still something soft about them and the scent stronger. Enough to make Marco's nose itch.

"They're like rabbits."

"Flowers aren't rabbits," Marco states, kneeling down carefully to avoid touching the flowers before he was ready. The petal he grabbed pulling free but not crumbling as every other had before this. "If they were, we might have found out who or what was spreading them around."

Thatch yawns, "I'm sure that you'll figure it out, you're good at finding things."

"Is that a dog joke or a promotion joke?"

"Neither, though I suppose it could count as both. More a dog joke, really," Thatch shakes his head. "You deserve your promotion and I was just trying to say that if you can rise through the ranks to deputy so quickly, you are sure to figure out what this is."

"You're trying to butter me up so that I'll let you leave to get ready for your date instead of hunting down more information, aren't you?" Thatch at least tries to look guilty, probably because he was caught out, but he doesn't deny it. "You don't even have to be here, get going. Like you said, it's not long until moon rise and I want to be home before that. It'll probably be faster without you."

"I'm the best kind of help," Thatch sniffs dramatically, trying to look hurt. It fails when he grins brightly. "Thanks Marco."

"You're not even an officer, you're not obligated to join me."

"Still, I owe you!"

Marco rolls his eyes, listening to him crash through the woods and back into town, waiting for him to vanish from hearing before sighing, "If he ever pays me back everything that he owes me, it might be kinder of me just to take his first born."

The flowers don't answer him, swaying in the breeze that's winding through the trees and spreading the sweet scent that's started to grate on his senses. There was no rhyme or pattern to where the flowers appeared, moving from the woods to the town and back, as if marking someone's trail.

"Now," Marco stands, spotting another patch of flowers. "Where are you going?"

The path leads deeper into the woods, deeper than Marco had been hoping it would with the moon set to rise so soon. He might be in control, Thatch wasn't wrong in that respect, it was part of the condition of his promotion, but it didn't mean that it was safe to run through the woods. Even if he stayed within the confines of the wards that were supposed to make people avoid their little haven, it didn't stop everyone and hunters were known to cross as they pleased.

"Are you lost?"

Marco stops, his heart freezing in his chest, because he hadn't heard anyone approaching. He hadn't even heard a heartbeat until after he had heard the voice, but he turns slowly, hand going to his taser automatically.

The young man, in shorts that go to below his knees and a shirt that hangs open, smiles at him widely, "Are you lost? It can get a little confusing here. Do you need help home?"

"No," Marco says finally, realizing that the man is standing in a patch of flowers that he had dismissed, since their scent was more faded than the one he had turned his focus onto. "Are you lost? I don't think that I've seen you around town before."

"I'm Ace," he's smiling still, just as bright. "I've lived here my whole life, but I took too long of a nap. I think I might have missed a lot. Who are you?"

"I'm Marco Newgate, I work for the sheriff's department. How long have you been asleep?"

Ace disappears around the tree, only to appear from behind another, closer than before, "Newgate? Like Edward Newgate?"

"You know Pops?"

"I know lots of people," Ace answers, no longer downwind so that Marco can catch his scent. It's almost the same as the flowers, just different enough to be distinguishable from them. "You're the deputy, right? Shanks told me about you."

"Did he," Marco doesn't understand how Ace, who he's never met before, knows both his father and Shanks. "He's never mentioned you."

"I was sleeping," Ace repeats, like it's an explanation. "My mother was very sick, but I'm back now. I live that way," he points deep into the woods, watching Marco curiously. "It's the biggest tree ever. Do you want to see it?"

Marco nods slowly, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

"A dryad. Half dryad," Ace states, frowning like he expects Marco to say something about it. "My mom was one and I got it from her. You're a werewolf, right?"

"You can tell?"

"You feel like moonlight and fur," Ace shrugs, like it explains everything. "I think I have coffee, do you drink that?"

"I do. You wouldn't happen to leave flowers where you go, would you? That's actually what I'm doing out here, trying to find out where they came from. Shanks wasn't sure what or who it was and asked me to look into it for him."

"They are mine. I've always left them, but it's been so long, I wouldn't blame Shanks for thinking it was someone or something else. He looks like he hasn't been sleeping well."

"He hasn't," Marco sighs, sending a message to Shanks, with a picture he's snapped of Ace, to inform him of what he's found. "Benn Beckman is away on a business trip and Shanks tends to overwork himself when Benn is away."

"Because it's lonely when it's quiet," Ace says, as if he knew what Marco was going to say. "Shanks has always been like that. My mom used to tell me that Shanks helped her found the town because it meant he would be less lonely."

Marco raises an eyebrow, "Your mother?"

"She helped Shanks and Edward found the town. Rouge, that was her name. I reacted badly when she died and it took a lot out of me. I had to gather more power before I could come back. I think it took longer than I wanted. Nico Robin's not a little girl anymore."

"Nico Robin hasn't been a little girl in centuries."

Ace nods sadly, "I noticed. This is my home, Marco Newgate, be welcome."

Marco studies the tree, with wide glass windows embedded into the trunk and the door left just the slightest bit open, lights twinkling inside, "It's beautiful."

"Thanks, mom and I built it!" Ace says bouncing up on his toes. "Please come inside, the coffee should only take a few minutes, I hope there's still time."

"Still time?"

"Dogs aren't allowed coffee," Ace says grinning widely.

Marco sighs, because he's head that joke every full moon since he was sixteen, "Werewolves aren't exactly dogs to begin with."

"They taste things differently. The last one that I knew didn't like the taste of coffee. Do you like it when you're transformed? I thought that things tasted differently when you were changed?"

"I do taste things differently, but coffee isn't something that I've tried to drink when I'm a wolf." 

Ace hums, his cupboards opening themselves and two long thin branches bringing mugs down to sit on the counter as he checked the coffee in the pot, "I don't have milk. Shanks has to help me with the bank before I can shop, but I have some sugar." 

"Just sugar is fine," Marco says taking a seat at the table. "Do you leave flowers purposely or-?"

"They just appear, never in my home, but when I leave it. My mom said that my father was much the same. It was supposed to symbolize something. I was never entirely sure of what."

"What was your father, you said you were only half dryad?"

Ace blinks slowly as he glances back at Marco, "A forest god. Mom was a dryad and my father was a forest god. Mom used to say that I could grow more than flowers in my wake if I wanted to, but I was happy with just flowers. It's one of the few things that I don't mind inheriting from him. Shanks says that you're Edward's oldest?"

"The first he adopted, not the oldest. Pops adopted a golem that is older than I am. He's made of diamonds."

"That's so cool!" Ace says excitedly. "I've never met a golem, is he more automaton or person? I know that they can be pretty evenly split depending on what the creator wanted."

"Person. He's older than me by almost thirty years, I'm just a werewolf."

Ace tilts his head to the side, curious, "Are werewolves not long lived? When I was young, they could survive for almost two centuries. I know that doesn't seem long compared to some creatures, but it was longer than mortals."

"I don't think I've ever truly looked into it," Marco pauses, his watch beeping at him. "Ah."

"Is something wrong?"

"It'll be moon rise in five minutes. I need to be off before that, if I hold any hope of making it somewhere that won't cause trouble."

"You could stay here," Ace offers slowly. "I am immune to bites, should you have the urge and I can keep the house sealed until morning? Do you need anything in particular?"

Marco shifts in his seat for a moment considering his options, before sighing, "I like meat. And I have a bad habit of curling up next to people when I feel comfortable."

"I can do that, would you like to move to the living room while you still have human legs?"

"Thank you, for letting me stay here. You didn't have to."

Ace shrugs, "I'm being a little selfish, actually. I've been asleep for too long, I've missed having company. I have to introduce myself at some point, but it's nice not having to deal with the responsibilities left to me just yet."

"I'm happy to oblige."

* * *

"You're a pretty wolf," Ace says softly, after Marco has made short work of the rabbit that he had lured into his home from the forest outside, holding his hand out to see if he would be allowed to pet him. "Your markings are brilliant."

Marco's tail wags, head dropping into Ace's hand.

"Smart boy," Ace mutters, scratching under Marco's chin. "What is that?"

Marco whines as the sound comes again, moving to the neat stack of clothing he had dropped onto a chair before his transformation, nosing it. He stops when Ace does follow, looking back at him before pushing his things again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Ace sighs, moving Marco's shirt to reach his pants, digging out something that has started playing the sound again. Marco pushes his nose to the screen and Ace copies him.

"Marco? You can answer the phone without thumbs?"

"Marco showed me how to answer it," Ace says slowly, ignoring how Marco has sprawled over his lap now that the device has been answered. "May I ask who's calling."

"It's Thatch, I'm his brother. Who are you?"

"I'm Ace, Marco is in my home. May I take a message?"

Ace doesn't know what to make of the long silence that follows, but it starts to feel uncomfortable before Marco's brother starts to speak again.

"Ace, can I ask where you live?"

"In the woods. Marco came in for coffee, but it was late, so I offered to let him stay," Ace scratches along Marco's back. "Shanks will vouch for me."

Thatch coughs, "You know Shanks?"

"Yes? Unless the name belongs to someone other than a one armed vampire with hair like a rose?"

"That sounds like Shanks. I expect Marco to call me the minute that he wakes up, Mr. Ace."

"I'll pass it on to him," Ace assures.

The device is silent again and when Ace looks at it, it's not longer showing the name and photograph. He supposes that means that they are no longer talking, but that's fine, he's not interested in navigating that part of this century yet. Not when he's still working his way through Nico Robin's history books.

Marco sighs, his eyes closing and his body relaxing across Ace's lap, "Tired?"

There's no answer, just the steady heartbeat against his thigh and slow steady breathing that he can feel more than see. Which means that Ace is going to be stuck here, under at least a hundred pounds of wolf until sunrise.

"You're soft," Ace mutters, dropping down onto his back with a sigh.

It's strange, waking up centuries after he had fallen asleep, and he doesn't think he's going to enjoy finding out what has happened and what has changed, for all that he knows that it has to have been good in at least some cases. Unless he had missed another great hunt for their kind.

Marco whines, tail swiping back and forth on the ground behind him, his paws flexing. Ace hums, petting down his side until the sounds stopped, werewolves were always adorable.

* * *

"You do know," Marco states, looking uncomfortable as he adjusted his shirt, "You could have just pushed me off your lap and gone to your bed. You didn't have to keep me company."

"I wanted company," Ace answers, smiling over his coffee before turning his attention to the window. "Your device rang, your brother wanted to speak to you."

Marco sighs, checking his phone and finding the call, and over a dozen text messages from Thatch and his other siblings demanding answers to where he was and who he was with, "Thank you for answering it. He would have gotten more concerned if no one had."

"You showed me how."

"That sounds like me. I don't remember what I did immediately, by this afternoon, I will, but there's a delay," Marco yawns, cracking his neck with a wince. "Thank you, for allowing me to stay."

"You were looking for me, I couldn't leave you to worry," Ace shrugs. "Do you need to return to town? I need to speak with Shanks and I think if I have another with me, he'll be less likely to ignore me."

"Ignore you?"

"Mhm, he's old. Sometimes when old creatures are sick, they'll hallucinate. I'm something to be hallucinated," Ace's smile isn't as soft, something sad underlying it. "Unless you're busy?"

"I am actually on vacation. Three whole weeks of letting Smoker deal with Shanks and his poorly timed work calls, I would be happy to escort you. Do you know most of the older residents?"

Ace laughs, "At least some of them. Thank you, it'll be nice to have a new perspective on things. If you're willing?"

"It sounds more fun than what I had planned. I was going to spend the next few days trying to see if I wanted to go out of town. Not that I would go, but I would consider it."

"Well then, shall we go?"


End file.
